Indonesian Journal of Religious

The African Philosophy of Ubuntu in South African Education

Baken Johannes Lefa — 2026-04-17

Ubuntu lies at the heart of the African way of life and impacts on every aspect of people’s well-being. This paper seeks to explore the notion of being human by grounding discussions around the concept of what is generally referred to as Ubuntu in South African education and society. The issue of discipline in schools or in education is selected as a way to demonstrate the concept of Ubuntu mostly amongst learners and teachers or either the school environment. Ubuntu is actually regarded as the soul force that drives almost every facet of societal life in African societies and that create the relationship between the African community. In this paper I will be mostly focusing on Ubuntu in education or rather in South African schools. This paper seeks to understand how Ubuntu impacts on discipline in South African schools. Ubuntu in the South African context or society is seen as the act of being human, caring, sympathy, empathy, forgiveness or any values of humanness towards others. Ubuntu is a capacity in South African culture that expresses compassion, reciprocity, dignity, harmony and humanity in the interests of building and maintaining a community with justice and mutual caring. The consequences of failure to embrace Ubuntu in South African Schools manifest itself through learner’s indiscipline and staff not respecting each other. The purpose of this paper is to place the reader in South African society and introduce the concept of Ubuntu as the Philosophy of the society in relation to education.

Administrative Support, Teacher Professional Development, and Performance Feedback: A Literature Review on Christian Religious Education Teaching Quality

Susanti Embong Bulan — 2026-04-24

The quality of teaching in Christian Religious Education (CRE) at the higher education level is fundamentally shaped by the interplay of administrative support, professional development opportunities, and performance feedback mechanisms. This literature review synthesizes findings from twenty-four scholarly sources published between 2014 and 2026 to examine how these three administrative pillars influence lecturer teaching quality in Indonesian Christian higher education institutions. The analysis reveals that effective educational administration functions as a driving system that creates structured learning environments, facilitates continuous professional growth, and establishes robust evaluation frameworks. Findings demonstrate that systematic academic supervision, comprehensive teaching administration completeness, and constructive performance feedback significantly enhance lecturer competence and instructional effectiveness. The study identifies that personality competence emerges as the most dominant dimension in lecturer competency implementation, while continuous academic supervision proves effective in improving teacher competence in instructional planning. The review concludes that an integrated, supportive, and flexible administrative model is essential for sustaining teaching quality improvement in CRE contexts. This research contributes a theoretical framework that connects administrative functions with pedagogical excellence, offering practical implications for institutional leaders, policymakers, and educational administrators seeking to enhance CRE teaching quality in Indonesia.

Kualitas pengajaran dalam Pendidikan Agama Kristen (PAK) di tingkat perguruan tinggi secara fundamental dibentuk oleh interaksi antara dukungan administratif, peluang pengembangan profesional, dan mekanisme umpan balik kinerja. Tinjauan pustaka ini mensintesiskan temuan dari dua puluh empat sumber akademis yang diterbitkan antara tahun 2014 dan 2026 untuk mengkaji bagaimana ketiga pilar administratif tersebut memengaruhi kualitas mengajar dosen di lembaga pendidikan tinggi Kristen di Indonesia. Analisis mengungkapkan bahwa administrasi pendidikan yang efektif berfungsi sebagai sistem penggerak yang menciptakan lingkungan belajar terstruktur, memfasilitasi pertumbuhan profesional berkelanjutan, dan membangun kerangka evaluasi yang kokoh. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa supervisi akademis yang sistematis, kelengkapan administrasi pengajaran yang komprehensif, dan umpan balik kinerja yang konstruktif secara signifikan meningkatkan kompetensi dosen dan efektivitas pengajaran. Studi ini mengidentifikasi bahwa kompetensi kepribadian muncul sebagai dimensi yang paling dominan dalam implementasi kompetensi dosen, sementara supervisi akademis yang berkelanjutan terbukti efektif dalam meningkatkan kompetensi guru dalam perencanaan pembelajaran. Tinjauan ini menyimpulkan bahwa model administratif yang terintegrasi, suportif, dan fleksibel sangat penting untuk mempertahankan peningkatan kualitas pengajaran dalam konteks PAK. Penelitian ini berkontribusi pada kerangka teoretis yang menghubungkan fungsi administratif dengan keunggulan pedagogis, menawarkan implikasi praktis bagi para pemimpin lembaga, pembuat kebijakan, dan administrator pendidikan yang berupaya meningkatkan kualitas pengajaran PAK di Indonesia.

Praying with Javanese Rhythm: The Spirituality of Dialogue and Church Inculturation in Catholic Shalawatan

Yohanes Crissostomus Wahyu Mega — 2026-06-27

Fenomena shalawatan Katolik di Jawa merupakan ekspresi nyata dari dialog antara iman dan budaya. Tradisi doa ini, yang berakar pada irama dan bahasa Jawa, mewujudkan bentuk inkulturasi liturgis Katolik yang kontekstual dan tetap terbuka terhadap kearifan lokal. Spiritualitas Katolik dengan demikian dapat dialami melalui shalawatan dan bentuk-bentuk doa berirama yang mendorong dialog antaragama dan antarbudaya. Shalawatan Katolik bukan sekadar adaptasi budaya, melainkan sebuah bentuk dialog spiritual yang mempertemukan iman Kristen, tradisi Islam, dan budaya Jawa. Melalui irama dan bahasa doa, umat beriman mengalami kedekatan dengan Allah yang hadir dalam kebersamaan dan keharmonisan. Pada saat yang sama, kajian ini tidak berasumsi bahwa inkulturasi semacam itu bebas dari masalah. Meskipun praktik ini secara luas dianggap sebagai bentuk inkulturasi yang positif, praktik ini juga menimbulkan ketegangan teologis, perdebatan internal gerejawi tentang batas-batas devosi, dan risiko untuk ditafsirkan sebagai sinkretisme. Cara komunitas Muslim sendiri memaknai praktik ini juga tetap menjadi pertanyaan terbuka, bukan sebuah kesimpulan yang pasti. Oleh karena itu, artikel ini memperlakukan keharmonisan yang dideskripsikan oleh para partisipan sebagai sebuah klaim yang perlu dikaji, termasuk batas-batasnya, dan bukan sebagai suatu kepastian yang sudah terbukti. Spiritualitas dialogis ini menunjukkan bahwa iman tidak perlu berada di atas budaya, melainkan dapat bertumbuh di dalamnya sebagai sebuah perjumpaan timbal balik, dengan tetap memperhatikan batas-batas teologis yang menyertai perjumpaan tersebut. Kontribusi utama artikel ini terletak pada eksplorasinya mengenai shalawatan Katolik sebagai ekspresi hidup dari spiritualitas dialogis dan inkulturasi liturgis dalam konteks budaya Jawa. Kajian ini menyoroti bahwa iman Katolik dapat diekspresikan secara autentik melalui bentuk-bentuk budaya lokal tanpa kehilangan identitas teologisnya. Selain itu, kajian ini mendemonstrasikan bagaimana doa berirama dan tradisi spiritual Jawa dapat menjadi jembatan bagi dialog antaragama, khususnya antara Kristen dan Islam, yang menumbuhkan keharmonisan, pengayaan bersama, dan pengalaman akan Allah yang lebih mendalam dalam kehidupan komunal.

Kata Kunci:

inkulturasi; spiritualitas Katolik; shalawatan; budaya Jawa; dialog antaragama.

The phenomenon of Catholic shalawatan in Java represents a concrete expression of dialogue between faith and culture. This prayer tradition, rooted in Javanese rhythms and language, embodies a contextual form of Catholic liturgical inculturation that remains open to local wisdom. Catholic spirituality can thus be experienced through shalawatan and rhythmic forms of prayer that foster interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Catholic shalawatan is not merely a cultural adaptation, but a form of spiritual dialogue that brings together the Christian faith, Islamic traditions, and Javanese culture. Through the rhythm and language of prayer, believers experience closeness to God, who is present in togetherness and harmony. At the same time, this study does not assume that such inculturation is unproblematic. Although the practice is widely regarded as a positive form of inculturation, it also raises theological tensions, internal ecclesial debate about the boundaries of devotion, and the risk of being read as syncretism. The way Muslim communities themselves perceive the practice likewise remains an open question rather than a settled outcome. This article therefore treats the harmony described by participants as a claim to be examined, including its limits, rather than as a foregone conclusion. This dialogical spirituality suggests that faith need not stand above culture, but may grow within it as a mutual encounter, while remaining attentive to the theological boundaries that such encounters entail. The main contribution of this article lies in its exploration of Catholic shalawatan as a living expression of dialogical spirituality and liturgical inculturation within the Javanese cultural context. The study highlights that Catholic faith can be authentically expressed through local cultural forms without losing its theological identity. Furthermore, it demonstrates how rhythmic prayer and Javanese spiritual traditions can become a bridge for interfaith dialogue, particularly between Christianity and Islam, fostering harmony, mutual enrichment, and a deeper experience of God within communal life.

The Census of David and the Problem of Causation

Moses Adeleke Adeoye — 2026-06-27

The cause of a long interpretive problem, with incitement of the census attributed to the LORD in 2 Samuel chapter 24:1, and with incitement of the census attributable to the incitement of the LORD in 1 Chronicles chapter. These attributional differences have spawned an assortment of academic interpretations, such as redactional revision, theological development, historiographical reinterpretation, and canonical methods of biblical causation. The paper re-establishes the relationship of the two texts through the qualitative, textual discussion, which involves literary comparison, linguistic examination of the Hebrew word śataan, and the discussion of biblical structures of mediated agency on a larger scale. Particular attention is focused on those tales in which Godly purposes are fulfilled by secondary participants, like Job 1192, 1 Kings 22:1923 and the hardening traditions of the Exodus. The article argues that the two census accounts do not necessarily need to be viewed as mutually exclusive accounts, but they can be understood as indicating different levels of causation in the biblical narrative discourse: divine sovereignty as ultimate causation, an adversarial agent as proximate causation and David as the agent of moral responsibility. This suggestion is considered in conjunction with historical-critical interpretations, which see Chronicles as a theological reworking of Samuel. The analysis also suggests that the census was not inherently illicit in itself; the census itself is mentioned elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible as a legitimate event under justifiable circumstances, but it was guilty of intent, covenantal fidelity and royal responsibility. The article provides a constructive interpretation of these passages by placing the texts in broader biblical notions of agency, judgment and accountability, as well as current debates over inner-biblical interpretation, divine agency and the theological rationale of parallel narratives.